Description: The reflection for this module is how I plan to address equity and ethics issues when applying technologies in my classroom.
Impact: The case study for the week focused on a day in the life of Mrs. Jones and her class in the computer lab. Mrs. Jones’ day was filled with a myriad of copyright infringements and ethical disasters. I hope that this case study was fiction and that there are not teachers who are so inept with issues of privacy and equity. However, often fiction is based on fact and I am certain that this case study draws examples from many different sources.
The most glaring infraction that Mrs. Jones committed was leaving her grade book program open for students to see. This is a huge violation of privacy and could lead to legal issues for not only Mrs. Jones, but also for the school and the district.
However, the issue that struck closest to home for me in the case study was the assignment itself. The students had one day in the computer lab to work on the assignment. If it was not completed, the students were to complete it at home. I was thinking about the school where I teach and thought this would be unfair to our students. My school is 95% poverty and home computers are a luxury item that many of our students assess to outside of school. Although I do not assign projects in my math class similar to the assignment Mrs. Jones gave to her students, many of my colleagues do give such assignments. However, the difference is that they give our students ample access to the computer lab for research on the topic. We also work as a team and allow students from other classes to work on their project when another teacher is in the lab.
Intent: My school was fortunate this year to receive two and half computer labs this year. We had been using very out of date Apple computer desktops that were in very poor repair. When we learned that we were receiving the new labs, a team was formed to address issues of rules for the labs. Our first goal was to arrange the labs in a horseshoe pattern by putting the computers around the perimeter of the room. This would allow the teacher to insure that each student was staying on task and not drifting to websites that were not allowed. We also instilled a rule that students were not to enter the lab without a teacher. This alleviated the issue that Mrs. Jones had of students being on a website while she was in the hallway. Our teachers also insure that while the students are researching projects, they are referencing their research properly and not infringing on copyright laws or plagiarizing material.
Too many times, teachers will take their students into the lab, assign a lesson, and “turn them loose” without any supervision or follow up. Computer lab days are not for the teacher to relax. These are days for the teacher to give the students opportunity to do research that they may not have access to at home.
Impact: The case study for the week focused on a day in the life of Mrs. Jones and her class in the computer lab. Mrs. Jones’ day was filled with a myriad of copyright infringements and ethical disasters. I hope that this case study was fiction and that there are not teachers who are so inept with issues of privacy and equity. However, often fiction is based on fact and I am certain that this case study draws examples from many different sources.
The most glaring infraction that Mrs. Jones committed was leaving her grade book program open for students to see. This is a huge violation of privacy and could lead to legal issues for not only Mrs. Jones, but also for the school and the district.
However, the issue that struck closest to home for me in the case study was the assignment itself. The students had one day in the computer lab to work on the assignment. If it was not completed, the students were to complete it at home. I was thinking about the school where I teach and thought this would be unfair to our students. My school is 95% poverty and home computers are a luxury item that many of our students assess to outside of school. Although I do not assign projects in my math class similar to the assignment Mrs. Jones gave to her students, many of my colleagues do give such assignments. However, the difference is that they give our students ample access to the computer lab for research on the topic. We also work as a team and allow students from other classes to work on their project when another teacher is in the lab.
Intent: My school was fortunate this year to receive two and half computer labs this year. We had been using very out of date Apple computer desktops that were in very poor repair. When we learned that we were receiving the new labs, a team was formed to address issues of rules for the labs. Our first goal was to arrange the labs in a horseshoe pattern by putting the computers around the perimeter of the room. This would allow the teacher to insure that each student was staying on task and not drifting to websites that were not allowed. We also instilled a rule that students were not to enter the lab without a teacher. This alleviated the issue that Mrs. Jones had of students being on a website while she was in the hallway. Our teachers also insure that while the students are researching projects, they are referencing their research properly and not infringing on copyright laws or plagiarizing material.
Too many times, teachers will take their students into the lab, assign a lesson, and “turn them loose” without any supervision or follow up. Computer lab days are not for the teacher to relax. These are days for the teacher to give the students opportunity to do research that they may not have access to at home.